Rallies, phone banking and social media campaigns are fueling the push from multiple campus organizations to pressure the administration into rescinding the suspension of pro-Palestinian international student Momodou Taal grad.
A week after Taal’s suspension, the administration continues to move forward with a formal suspension, rejecting his latest appeal. In response, The Coalition for Mutual Liberation, a student-led pro-Palestinian umbrella group, launched a pressure campaign to demand the University roll back its decision.
Taal appealed his suspension to Ryan Lombardi, the vice president of student and campus life, last week. However, Lombardi rejected Taal’s plea on Thursday. Taal’s second and final appeal will be decided by Interim Provost John Siliciano. In a post on X, Taal said his initial appeal was rejected after a business day, and he claimed that he was being denied due process.
“Once again, there has been no investigation, nor have I had a chance to even respond to the allegations against me,” the post read. “I maintain that all my actions have been peaceful and in accordance with my First Amendment rights.”
CML then released a social media campaign post that called the rejection a “radical escalation” and urged community members to call members of the administration. Organizations that signed on the post included the Native American Indigenous Students at Cornell, South Asian Council and Fanclub Collective, among approximately 30 others.
The Cornell Graduate Student United held a press conference on Friday, Sept. 27, discussing their demands that the University bargain over Taal’s suspension with the union according to a memorandum of agreement it had reached with the University in July. The agreement gives the union the right to bargain over the effects of academic discipline of graduate students as long as that discipline affects their working conditions.
Ewa Nizalowska grad, part of the media team for CGSU, said in an interview with The Sun that the administration had agreed to bargain in a previous suspension against Taal and another international graduate student but were not currently following the terms of the memorandum.
“We called on Cornell, and we are still calling on Cornell to bargain with us over his suspension, which is a blatant disregard of due process, his right to freedom of expression and also clearly a discriminatory attack that’s intended to scare off other marginalized grads, international grads, from protesting against the genocide in Palestine,” Nizalowska said.
CGSU is also hosting a rally this Wednesday, Oct. 2, which Nizalowska said was part of their ongoing efforts to negotiate a contract with the University that includes protections for graduate students’ speech.
CML hosted a rally in front of Day Hall on Wednesday, Sept. 25, where multiple speakers called on the administration to reverse their decision. The organization also launched a phone banking campaign with the Cornell chapter of Young Democratic Socialists of America, a member organization of CML, to ask community members to leave voice messages for six offices on campus, including the Office of the President, Interim Provost John Siliciano, Chief Administrator Kristin Hopkins, General Counsel Donica Varner, the Office of the General Counsel and the Office of Student Conduct and Community Standards.
In an interview with The Sun, Atakan Deviren ’27, co-chair of Cornell YDSA, said that the phone banking campaign made over 1,000 calls and filled four out of six mailboxes but that, ultimately, he did not know if the student’s efforts would persuade administrators.
“If the school does not divest, and if they do not stop repressing students the way that they are now, then there’s going to be an escalation,” Deviren said.
Black Students United, the umbrella organization encompassing dozens of Black cultural, mentorship, performance, professional and Greek organizations, released a statement on Taal’s suspension saying that if the administration followed through with the proceeding, BSU would “deem Cornell an unsafe space for all Black students.”
Seth Vieira ’26, political action co-chair of BSU, told The Sun that the organization is concerned about the administration’s “aggression toward any pro-Palestinian supporter or organizer.” He also spoke about Taal’s status as an international student and the consequences of a suspension to his immigration status, since many members of BSU are international students themselves.
“This would be setting an extremely terrible precedent, not only for international Black students, but for all Black students. So if we can be targeted like this — what about us?” Vieira said.
After being suspended in the spring for helping organize the pro-Palestine encampment on the Arts Quad, Taal has said that this second suspension puts him at risk of being deported back to the United Kingdom. This most recent suspension comes after Taal and other Cornell students shut down a career fair in Statler Hall earlier this month attended by defense contractors L3Harris and Boeing.
The case has received nationwide attention, with multiple groups around the country such as the organizers of a pro-Palestinian encampment at the University of Michigan lending their support for Taal over social media. The Cornell Chapter of American Association of University Professors released a statement calling for the administration not to follow through with the suspension, which was later posted on X by the national chapter’s official account calling for Taal to be reinstated.
“For the administration to escalate its treatment of such protests into allegations of dangerous and violent disruptions is a serious abuse of Cornell’s disciplinary power over students — and against faculty and staff who join them in their protests,” the statement read.
Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT) posted on X condemning the administration’s decision to suspend Taal and offering support for his suspension to be rescinded.
“It is appalling that Cornell University appears ready to deport an international student without regard for due process, simply because of their presence at a protest. It is wrong, and I urge the university to reverse course immediately,” the post read.